


Three Kisses Bunter received - and one he gave right willingly

by tetsubinatu



Category: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:06:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tetsubinatu/pseuds/tetsubinatu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bunter is a popular gentleman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Kisses Bunter received - and one he gave right willingly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flourish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flourish/gifts).



**1\. Mother upon going to his first job (1906, aged 17)**

He's a good lad, our Mervyn, and that clever! He learned to read before his cousin Harry - and Harry's a good two year older. Read everything he could get his hands on, he did. The schoolmaster said he could try for a scholarship, but his da - well, he was bright too - but not a lick of sense. I loved the man, God knows, but I can't say it came as a surprise to me when he fell ill. Out all hours in the rain, with his weak chest - and never the sense God gave a sparrow. A good man, my Matthew, and he did his best. Cruel, it was, to hear him try to breathe at the end.

I knew it was bad this time, from the start. Mervyn stayed home from school the whole week 'til Matthew passed, this Friday past. Lady Sanderton, it was she said Mervyn should come to them. Kind of her to think of it. If Mervyn hadn't been taken on up at the big hall, we'd've had to leave the cottage - tied it is. And Mervyn's a big, handsome lad, well-mannered. Footman, he's going to be. It's a step up from gardener, like his da. Inside servants thinks so highly of themselves above the outside staff.

Mervyn always knew that it was likely that he'd go into service. He might've hoped for a scholarship, like the schoolmaster said, but his da was dead against it. Not our place, he said, not right. Mervyn just put his head down and studied hard, still keeping the chance open, see, whatever his da said. I'd've liked to see our Mervyn a teacher. He'd've been good at it, I think. The younger ones always mind him beautiful.

He never said anything, though, when Lady Sanderton asked to speak to us, just "Thank you milady," and "Very kind of you, indeed." Schoolmaster always encouraged him to speak well, hoping for that scholarship, you see.

I kissed him goodbye this morning. Of course, the big house is just up the road, but he'll have his duties now. He'll come and see us when he can, but they keep them busy up there. His brothers hugged him goodbye and little Mary cried, but he made nothing of it. "Take care, Mother," he said. "I'll make sure my wages are sent to you." 

I kissed him on the cheek, one last time, and watched him go off up the road, his bag slung over his back. The younger boys started a squabble and by the time I looked up again he was over the rise.

He's a good boy, my Mervyn. I'll miss him something fierce.

* * * 

**2\. Marie Fournier (1918, aged 29)**

Certainly a young woman cannot be blamed if, in the excitement of the moment, she should happen to kiss a handsome young soldier. When the bells are ringing for Victory and the invaders have fled, leaving behind only an appalling mess and memories of a most unpleasant kind, it is of no consequence if one should choose someone of the liberating force who happens to be tall and strong, with kind eyes, to clasp close and kiss in the most chaste and grateful manner. Certainly it was unnecessary and unkind of Jean's aunt and cousin to say that I behaved in a manner unbecoming. Jean should have more faith in me. 

I shall ignore him at the service tomorrow and his sister will tell him that I have waited for him most patiently and have entirely finished my trousseau, which is fortunately not destroyed due to being kept at my grandmere's cottage, which is off the main road and behind a hill. She will reassure him of my devotion and I will allow him to apologise, and we shall be married in the New Year, if we can rebuild his parents' house by then. Perhaps we shall wait until Easter.

And I shall never think of my handsome soldier, my Mervyn, except sometimes quietly when all the household is asleep - of his warm, strong hands and his respectful restraint - for I am a good girl, and so Jean shall remember when Suzette reminds him.

If Mervyn should ever think of me, over there in the freezing rain of his England, I hope it is a good memory. It was a very good kiss.

* * * 

**3\. Extract from the diary of Hororia Lucasta, Duchess of Denver (1919, aged 31)**

October 21st. - I think I might be crying and I just kissed Bunter! The poor man was so overcome by what had just happened that I'm not even sure he noticed. I came into the hallway just as he was leaving Peter's bedroom. Very late in the day, of course - I was scarcely up at the crack of dawn this morning and yet I had come all the way from Denver to town and Peter still in bed, but allowances must be made. Bunter just looked at me and burst out "Oh your Grace. His lordship has told me to take away these damned eggs and bring him a sausage!" I thought for a moment that he might burst into tears so I did it for him, and we just had a quiet moment together there, with the plate of eggs quietly taking off the polish on the sideboard while Bunter blew his nose into the biggest handkerchief I have ever seen and I kissed his cheek - not at all whiskery, so nice - and had a little weep to myself. Fortunately my own handkerchief was a nice practical one today, not those pretty lace-edged ones that are all crackly and no use at all. And then of course I didn't want to spoil the moment so I just told Bunter to let Peter know that I'd be by for afternoon tea and went off to Hatchards for a quiet browse among the stacks before meeting Mary and her annoying sister-in-law - I never can remember her name - who insisted on talking about 'the servant problem', which totally put me off my meal. I don't think we've ever had a servant problem at Denver, well, not since Denver's mother passed away, at any rate.  
In any case that's Peter off my mind.

* * * 

**+1. Mervyn Bunter, on his wedding day (1936, aged 47)**

Never did I think that this happiness would come to me. His lordship's needs had to come first, of course, and for many years we had a bachelor establishment until he set his mind upon his lady and won her.

Well, it all changed then, as was to be expected. A married man can't expect the freedom of a bachelor, and although I cannot say that it was not a wrench, it was only natural and to be anticipated that such confidences as he had previously reposed in me would come to be shared with his wife. She was very thoughtful of my position, and deferred to me in the early uncertainties of their union, in a way that reassured me of her quality. I should have known that his lordship would choose someone who could come close to matching him, although at first I may have doubted, just a little. The circumstances were not what I would have called ideal, and she kept him waiting so long that I thought it might never come to pass.

But now, with the household settled for many months, bridal happiness has also come to me, a reward unlooked for and most gratefully appreciated. When Hope smiles at me I know why his lordship could not settle for anything less than his own other half, and I finally cease to mourn the days when it was just the two of us against the world.

I lift Hope's veil and meet her eyes with gratitude that I have found her. Her lips under mine are a promise of the happiness to come. 

  
_fin_   



End file.
